Antiques & Collectibles

Share via e-mail

Recently discovered after being hidden away for decades, this circa 1910-15 Marklin battleship named for the HMS Russell, which was sunk in 1916, is expected to bring $25,000-$45,000 at James D. Julia’s Toy, Doll & Adver-tising Auction. This 13½-inch Jumeau “EJ Bebe” doll has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. The expected top seller at Julia’s Lamp & Glass Auction is this Tiffany Studios floor lamp (far left) with a leaded shade in the Curtain Border design ($80,000-$100,000 esti-mate); the monumental 28-inch Daum Nancy vase depicting blackbirds against a background of falling snow has a $40,000-$60,000 estimate. At Skinner’s 20th Century Design Auction, this 16¾-inch-high free-form glass vessel (above right) by Dale Chihuly (1941-) has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate, and the Tiffany table lamp with a black-eyed Susan leaded glass shade a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.

By Virginia Bohlin
Globe Correspondent
June 15, 2013

A world auction record for any carpet sold at auction was set this month when the Clark Sickle-Leaf carpet sold at Sotheby’s for $33.8 million, more than quadrupling the high of its $5 million-$7 million estimate.

The early-17th-century Persian carpet was from the William A. Clark Collection bequeathed in 1925 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. The collection’s 25 carpets all sold above their high estimates for a total of $43.8 million, which more than quadrupled the $9.6 million high estimate.

The auction’s second-highest price was the $4.6 million paid for the 17th-century 44-foot Lafões carpet, more than tripling the high of its $800,000-$1.2 million estimate.

. . .

More than two dozen Tiffany lamps with leaded glass shades are among the lots at James D. Julia’s Summer Lamp & Glass Auction Wednesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. at its Fairfield, Maine, gallery.

Estimates range from $80,000-$100,000 for a floor lamp with a shade in the curtain border design, one of Tiffany’s most popular patterns, to $6,000-$9,000 for a Venetian table lamp with a black-eyed Susan leaded shade.

Important lamps by other makers include a Puffy Owl table lamp, one of the rarest lamps made by Pairpoint and one of only eight known to exist. The lamp, whose shade is an exaggerated blown-out molded face of an owl resting atop an owl-shaped metal base, has a $40,000-$60,000 estimate.

The extensive selection of French cameo glass is highlighted by a Daum Nancy monumental 28-inch vase depicting blackbirds against falling snow ($40,000-$60,000), a Galle black-and- frost-colored perfume bottle depicting butterflies and moths ($15,000-$25,000) and a Le Verre Art Deco vase decorated with a band of purple cats against a fiery orange background ($15,000-$20,000).

Also featured in the auction are nearly 170 paperweights with estimates ranging from $6,000-$8,000 for an antique Clichy concentric mushroom weight to $75-$100 for a contemporary Perthshire end-of-day weight.

A highlight of the 600-lot auction is the battleship HMS Russell made circa 1910-15 by Marklin, the premier German toy maker. The estimate is $25,000-$45,000. The nearly four-foot long ship bears the name of the British warship that sank off Malta in 1916 after striking mines laid by a German U-boat.

In addition to antique toys such as the Ives 1880s-style clockwork firehouse with pumper ($4,000-$6,000), and 1920s and ’30s toys like the Ingersoll-Rand Mack truck ($4,500-$6,500), there is a Maine single-owner collection of trains and accessories by Lionel, American Flyer, and other makers.

The auction’s expected top seller is a circa 1920 New York street sign marking the Wall Street intersection with Exchange Place and New Street. The two-foot-long porcelain-over-steel sign has a $30,000-$50,000 estimate.

The more than 50 dolls in the sale have estimates ranging from $9,000-$11,000 for a rare 1865 French fashion doll with a wood articulated body to $300-$400 for a French bisque bebe.

The many salesman samples being offered are as varied as a Walter Wood self-rake reaper ($10,000-$15,000) and a Koken barber’s chair ($16,000-$20,000), while the US patent models are as varied as the 1886 patent for the original Bissell carpet sweeper ($2,500-$3,500) and the 1869 patent for an artificial leg ($200-$400).

. . .

Skinner’s 20th Century Design Auction Saturday at 10 a.m. at its Boston gallery will include furniture ranging from a circa 1902 Arts & Crafts bookcase to a circa 1992 set of eight stacking chairs.

The Gustav Stickley oak bookcase has a $5,000-$7,000 estimate and the Frank Gehry laminated white maple high stacking chairs a $2,500-$3,500 estimate.

Other furniture offerings range from a circa 1920s-’30s French Art Deco daybed ($3,000-$4,000) to a mid-20th-century Peacock chair by the Danish designer Hans Wegner ($1,000-$1,500), to a six-foot walnut dining table by George Nakashima, one of the leading innovators of 20th-century design ($12,000-$15,000).

The expected top seller of the 516-lot auction is a Tiffany table lamp with a leaded glass black-eyed Susan shade. The estimate is $20,000-$30,000.

Topping the art glass is a large 16¾-inch-high free-form vessel from Dale Chihuly’s Macchia
series. The ultramarine fading to colorless vessel, its exterior with pink, purple, white, yellow, and turquoise macchia (the Italian word for “spotted’’), has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate.

An offering prized by Art Deco and antique radio collectors is the 1934 “Bluebird” radio, a 14-inch-round blue mirrored disc designed by Indiana-born Walter Dorwin Teague, often referred to as the “dean of industrial designers.” The estimate is $3,000-$5,000. An example of this iconic design is on view in the John Axelrod Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Among the pottery offerings are nine lots of Dedham pottery including two circa 1895-1908 experimental vases, one with a $1,200-$1,500 estimate and the other a $700-$900 estimate.

. . .

The contents of the circa 1850 Norwell home of the late Mary and Michael Knapp will be auctioned by Caddigan Auctioneers on-site at 32 Winter St. Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Mary Knapp, a physical education teacher in the Norwell schools for 35 years, died Feb. 21, her 87th birthday, in the room where she was born. Michael Knapp, a horse breeder and jockey, to whom she was married for 55 years, died in 2007.

In addition to the complete furnishings of the 14-room house, including Victorian furniture, Mt. Washington glassware, and a collection of more than 2,000 cup plates, there are boxes and boxes of sundry items found in the attic, some yet to be opened.

The attic finds are as varied as an early painted wooden doll and a painting of an American Indian war scene, an early Steiff teddy bear and an early magic lantern.

BostonGlobe.com complimentary digital access has been provided to you, without a subscription, for free starting today and ending in 14 days. After the free trial period, your free BostonGlobe.com digital access will stop immediately unless you sign up for BostonGlobe.com digital subscription. Current print and digital subscribers are not eligible for the free trial.

Thanks & Welcome to Globe.com

You now have unlimited access for the next two weeks.

BostonGlobe.com complimentary digital access has been provided to you, without a subscription, for free starting today and ending in 14 days. After the free trial period, your free BostonGlobe.com digital access will stop immediately unless you sign up for BostonGlobe.com digital subscription. Current print and digital subscribers are not eligible for the free trial.